A stable of gyros, cucumber sauce is something I find myself almost always keeping in my fridge. It goes wonderfully with pita bread, chicken, beef, and lamb.

More often than not, I make this recipe by taste. I strongly suggest that you do too! Just remember that the flavors get stronger when they’re allowed to sit in the fridge, so make the sauce ahead of time for optimal taste.

You can use greek yogurt, yogurt, or sour cream as the base for your sauce. If you use ordinary yogurt, then you will want to drain it for optimal consistency. If you're using greek yogurt or sour cream, skip ahead to prepping your cucumber.

To drain your yogurt, let it sit in a colander over the sink or a bowl to collect the liquid. If the collander's holes are too big, cover them with a paper towel.

Peal and de-seed your cucumber. If you like chunks of cucumber in your sauce, you can then just chop it finely by hand. If you are like me and don't actually much like cucumber, then you might want to chop it up in a food processor.

Add the cucumber to the yogurt, and then season it with dill, garlic, salt, and pepper to taste.

Make it ahead of time to let the flavors mix in the fridge before serving!

The other day, I was looking for a new recipe to try for dinner – one can only eat the same thing so many times in a row! I found a promising recipe on foodnetwork.com, made some adjustments, and added mushrooms. It reminds me of something I might have had at Olive Garden. . .

Parmesan Chicken and Mushrooms

Print Recipe

Chicken and mushrooms in a delicious parmesan and cream sauce. It goes really well with pasta, though you could also serve it with rice if you wanted something a little lighter.

Heat up oil in saucepan on the stove. While its warming up, chop up your onion and garlic. Cook the minced onion and garlic for 1-2 minutes.

Chop up your chicken into 1 inch pieces, and lightly salt (and sprinkle with garlic powder too, if you like!). Chop up the mushrooms. Add the chicken and the mushrooms to the onions and garlic in the saucepan. Cook until your chicken is lightly brown on all sides.

Add thyme and bay leaves. Cook for another minute or two, then add the heavy cream. Cover the saucepan, reduce the heat, and let it simmer for a few minutes. Let the chicken cook through (4-5 minutes).

Add the parmesan cheese and chives. Allow the cheese to melt and blend with the cream. The sauce should thicken a bit.

Take the chicken and sauce off the heat, and season with a dash of pepper (and salt, if required).

Serve over pasta or rice!

Recipe Notes

The first time I made this, I used milk and butter instead of the heavy cream (I almost never have heavy cream in the house - its dangerous!). It tasted great, but the sauce did not thicken as well, and it was not as pretty. So, in case you were wondering whether you can substitute milk for the heavy cream, the answer is yes, but you'll definitely have to do something else to thicken up the sauce.